Congressional Republicans to investigate Jan. 6 committee despite Biden's preemptive pardon

Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, announced the creation of a subcommittee to investigate the January 6, 2021 Capitol assault. The announcement comes just days after Joe Biden, in the final hours of his term, signed the preemptive pardon of lawmakers who made up the disbanded Select Committee to investigate Jan. 6. Judicial immunity for those did not deter Johnson.

"House Republicans are proud of our work exposing the false narratives peddled by the politically motivated Jan. 6 Select Committee, but there's more to be done," Johnson maintained before announcing that the committee that Rep. Barry Loudermilk will chair efforts to put the Select Committee's work under the microscope.

Prior to the Republican trifecta, the Georgia congressman led similar investigations into the committee's work for two years. In a December report, he described it as "a political weapon with a singular focus to deceive the public into blaming President Trump for the violence on January 6." He also recommended an investigation against former Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans in the group, for possible crimes.

The pardon of the former Democratic chairman ensures that neither Cheney nor the other eight former panel members can be brought to court. The renewed effort to investigate them, therefore, is focused on discrediting their work. This was revealed by the words of Republicans like Johnson and Jim Jordan, in charge of the committee from which the new subcommittee will emerge:

"Rep. Loudermilk has been the leader in getting to the bottom of what the Democrat-led January 6 Committee failed to uncover, and we look forward to helping him bring all the facts to the American people."

"What happened at the Capitol that day was the result of a series of intelligence, security, and leadership failures at multiple levels within numerous entities," Loudermilk himself said after the announcement. In addition to "uncovering all the facts," he promised to work to ensure that "this level of security failure may never happen again."

It is not known at this time when the subcommittee will begin operating and who its members will be. Asked if there will be Democratic members, Johnson replied: it will have to be consulted with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.